Commencement 2014: Passing it on

Published: May 18, 2014

Author: Michael O. Garvey

Reminding the University of Notre Dame’s graduating seniors that “there is no more dangerous or delusional myth than that of the self-made woman or man,” the principal speaker at the University’s 2014 Commencement, Rev. Dr. Ray Hammond, founder of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Boston, appealed to them to remember “the grace of collective support from the people gathered around you today and pass it on.”

Before degrees were conferred on 1,996 undergraduates at Notre Dame’s 169th Commencement Ceremony on Sunday (May 18), Rev. Hammond asked them to join him in prayer for Oxford University Chancellor Christopher Patten, whose health problems had prevented him from speaking at the Commencement.

Remembering his own hardscrabble inner-city Philadelphia childhood and upbringing and how “I, like you, am the recipient of a wonderful gift of grace from others,” Rev. Hammond went on to recount memorable examples of mentors, teachers, artists, physicians and activists who were similar beneficiaries.

Frequently during his remarks, Rev. Hammond urged the Notre Dame graduates to turn to each other in their seats and challenge each other to “pass on” the gifts they had received.

“Whenever we stand tall, and you are standing tall today, it is because we stand on the shoulders of giants,” he told the graduates. “We are the recipients of a wonderful grace and I pray that you will pass it on.”

Mark Santrach, an architecture major from St. Paul, Minnesota, delivered the valedictory address, invoking the Renaissance Florentine architect Filippo Brunelleschi as a “champion of the impossible,” for his design of the world’s largest masonry dome on the cathedral of Florence. He called on his classmates to become similar champions. “Which of you will dare to engineer a dome of unprecedented scale?” he asked. “Which of you will solve the puzzle of Alzheimer’s disease or harness gene therapy to cure cancer? Which of you will bring peace to warring nations? And which of you will conquer social injustice by empowering the vulnerable?”

Kenneth R. Miller, professor of biology at Brown University, received the University of Notre Dame’s 2014 Laetare Medal, the oldest and most prestigious honor given to American Catholics. In his acceptance remarks, Miller admonished against “two common myths about science” that “are destructive and impoverish those who hold them.” Assailing the assumption that “science is only practical knowledge,” he insisted that it is “a branch of learning that deepens the human spirit and enriches the poetry of life itself.” Against the assumption that science is opposed to religious faith, Miller argued that, “ironically, this is a myth that serves the enemies of both faith and science very well.” Western science is rooted “in a faith that views the study of nature and its mysteries as a way to praise and understand the glory of God.”

“A faith that would require one to reject scientific reason is not a faith worth having,” Miller told the graduates. “But a faith asserting that knowledge matters, that the world is knowable, and that human reason can unlock the secrets of life is indeed a faith worth embracing.”